Foods With Healthy-Sounding Buzzwords Could Be Hiding Added Sugar in Plain Sight

NBC News ^ | Dec. 28, 2025

[nickcarraway]

Added sugars are difficult to quickly spot because many companies use clever marketing to distract consumers.

Many consumers feel pride in avoiding the glazed pastries in the supermarket and instead opting for “all natural” granola that comes packed with extra protein. Same goes for low-fat yogurts “made with real fruit,” “organic” plant-based milks and bottled “superfood” smoothies.

Buyer beware: Healthy grocery buzzwords like those often cover up an unhealthy amount of sugar. Added sugars are difficult to quickly spot because many companies use clever marketing to distract consumers, said Nicole Avena, a professor of neuroscience and psychiatry at Mount Sinai Medical School and Princeton University who has studied added sugars.

Avena said while some health-forward brands know people are starting to become aware of the hazards of added sugars, “a lot of the bigger brands don’t worry so much about people’s health.”

[KarlInOhio]

I was looking at the nutrition bars a PhD I worked with was eating. One of the top ingredients was “evaporated cane juice”. That’s what you and I call sugar. Sneaky, sneaky. He was not happy because he was paying attention to his nutrition.

[albie]

It’s NBC so STFU!

[Dr. Sivana]

much of the rest is sneaked into cereal, salsa, prepared sandwiches, dairy products, bottled sauces and baked goods, including many brands of whole-grain bread.

It is NOT sneaking to add sugar to tomato sauce (Clemenza was NOT sneaking it into pot) and bread products. Sugar has been added to many dough recipes as a moistening agent and food for the yeast. Pizza Hut "Thin and Crispy" dough has no added sugar, and tastes like a toasted Matzo cracker. Thick and Chewy and Pan Pizza both have sugar added, and have for decades.

Companies reduced common sweeteners like refined beet sugar and high-fructose corn syrup but added alternatives, such as monk fruit and the sugar alcohol erythritol, which aren’t considered “added sugars” under FDA regulations.

Monk fruit is non-caloric but real food, like Stevia. Nutritionally, it makes sense to not classify it as a sugar. That is not a cheat, but a feature, for many.

[metmom]

Many consumers feel pride in avoiding the glazed pastries in the supermarket and instead opting for “all natural” granola that comes packed with extra protein. Same goes for low-fat yogurts “made with real fruit,” “organic” plant-based milks and bottled “superfood” smoothies.

I've been hearing about warnings for yogurt for years now.

Anything you buy that is ready to eat is going to be way higher in salt and sugar than anything you make yourself.